We're Children of the TARDIS
by finlay grey
Summary: Nearly twenty years have passed and a lot can change. Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman? Married. Parents to two, Stephen and Charlotte. But it's not easy growing up in the land of famous parents and teenage hormones.
1. Converse Mysteries

Once news of their relationship reached the public, the news nearly crashed every single social media network out there; Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, ect. No Whovian could've believed it. Matt Smith? And Jenna-Louise Coleman? Onscreen, Whouffle fans were on the edge of their seat, shipping the life out of the two characters known as the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswin Oswald. It was confirmed by their publicists later the day that they were in fact dating and out came "Manna."

Their relationship was loved by the majority of the Whovians, happy for the two. Within a few months and almost a year, it was announced that the two were engaged and to get married later in the year. On December 12th, 2015, the wedding happened and every single social media site nearly crashed yet once again. Nearly two years later, on November 2nd, 2017, a beautiful baby boy, Stephen Matthew Smith was welcomed into the world to his two loving parents. Another two years passed before the arrival of another Smith baby, Charlotte Noelle Smith.

Much to the excitement and fangirlism of all, Karen Gillan had become the godmother to both and were very close with the family.

Now, around fifteen years have passed. Matt and Jenna? Still married. Stephen and Charlotte? Growing up and trying to grow up while living with the fact that they're the spawn to two of the many great Doctor Who actor/actresses, and this is their story.

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"Mum! I can't find my pair of Converse!" Fourteen year old Charlotte Smith hollered impatiently down the long flight of stairs leading from the second story of the Smiths' home to downstairs where most of her family were right now. She _was _supposed to be downstairs and eating her breakfast right now but because she couldn't find her shoes and that left her barefoot and hungry. This was a nice way to return back to school after a winter break.

Charlotte frowned to herself as she heard the sound of her mother's footsteps coming up the long flight of stairs. She was prepared for a Jenna-Louise Coleman-Smith lecture because one of her mother's pet peeves were Charlotte's complaining and her impaitent attitude. In Charlotte's defence, she had looked for a good five minutes around the whole upstairs of the Smiths' huge penthouse. In addition to her defense, the house was so big that if she looked around the _entire_ upstairs, she would surely be late to school and by the time she was done with looking through every room and nook and cranny, her older brother, Stephen would graduate already.

She took a last look at herself in the full-length mirror that was hanging next to her. She smoothed out her waist-length wavy chestnut hair, shiny with Bumble & Bumble Curl Conscious Masque, the product that she woke up at the crack of dawn every morning to put in her hair and that she tried to hard to use right to get the perfect wavy curls in her hair that she wanted. There were tiny little clumps on Maybelline mascara on her eyelashes that she wanted to reapply to remove the mascara clumps but it was too late. Her hazel eyes looked shiny and awake, even though she stayed up until two in the morning to read Teen Vogue, her guilty pleasure. She was wearing her school uniform, a grey pleated skirt and a white polo with her school's, Loven Academy, logo sewn on. She was wearing a bright red school uniform caridgan with the logo on it as well and a pair of white tights. The only thing left now were her black Converse which she couldn't find.

Even though Charlotte towered over her mother a good almost three inches, she was still scared to death when her lectures came to her. "You can't find your what?" Jenna marched in front of Charlotte, her voice stern. She knew that Charlotte had not even looked to find whatever she lost. Of course she knew; she had given birth to Charlotte and was her mother. Jenna had an apron with little batter stains on the front so it looked like she stopped cooking to come deal with Charlotte's problem. True maternal love.

"M-my Converse," Charlotte replied back, stuttering a little. She always shyed away a little when her mum's stern tone came at her.

"Didn't you leave them downstairs? I think I almost-" Jenna started, thinking she had seen something like shoes when she had gotten up early that morning to start cooking and made pancakes in honor of her two kids' first day back to school.

Hearing those words, it reeled Charlotte's memory back and she remembered kicking them off her feet in the kitchen when she returned from ice skating a few nights ago with friends and she was too lazy to bring them upstairs with her because her feet were hurting from falling too many times on the frosty ice and the time she remembered she left her shoes downstairs was when she was halfway up the polished wooden stairs. "Thanks, Mum!" Charlotte remembered and charged down the stairs as fast as she could to retrieve her shoes and not manage to come to school tardy.

Jenna sighed as she turned and looked at her growing teenage daughter. Maybe trying to make Charlotte more responsible and pushing her only daughter to be more hardworking wouldn't work. Maybe Charlotte was really this way and the only thing left for Jenna to do was to accept it.

"Found them!" Charlotte raced into the Smiths' huge kitchen and immediately from the doorway, she saw her beaten-up black Converse lying by the metal trash can by the sink. Her dad, Matt, and older-by-two-years brother, Stephen were sitting at the kitchen table on the other side of the kitchen. The grey granite counter divided the dining room and the kitchen.

Her dad and older brother looked over at her. Charlotte sprang up excitedly, beaming at them. "What's cooking?" She asked sweetly, smiling.

Her older brother rolled his eyes, his brotherly duty to get annoyed at everything Charlotte did, "Pancakes. Can't you tell?"

Charlotte glared her hazel eyes over at her brother. "I can tell you both are eating pancakes." She pointed at the huge stacks of pancake in front of both of the men. "I mean like what's cooking like 'what's up'. Haven't you heard that term?" She scowled at her older brother. Two more years, she told herself. Just two more years and Stephen would be off at university and she would finally live in peace without the annoyance of an older brother.

Anyone that looked at Charlotte and Stephen Smith knew exactly they were siblings. (And not because their parents were legendary Doctor Who actors). They both had the same skin tone, the same hair color, not the same hair as Charlotte's was annoyingly frizzy or straight, depending on the day, and Stephen had short chestnut brown hair. Stephen had bright green eyes that were the spitting image of his dad's while Charlotte had hazel, a mix of brown and green, just depending on the day like her hair. They fought like siblings on a daily basis. Stephen was the football (soccer for you Americans) player and Charlotte had the secret desire to become an actress and get involved in the entertainment industry like her parents, but she was scared and didn't know how to express it to them as their parents made it sometimes seem like they didn't want their children in the entertainment industry.

Why? Their complaint over loving acting but having to deal with the press, not enough privacy for their children growing up, sometimes having to be away from family for filming, ect. It seemed too much and from her assumptions, Charlotte was sure her parents would probably throw her out if she even spoke up about wanting to start acting.

Her parents seemed to favor Stephen more. Well, her dad at least, maybe it was because Matt wanted to become a football player as well and they had the common love, unlike Charlotte. Well, she and her father _did _have a common love: acting, but she was too shy to approach him about it.

So in her freetime, Charlotte spent her time reading about old Shakespeare plays and helping backstage on sets at plays at her school. It was her outlet for her interest and what she wanted to pursue. If she couldn't pursue it directly, why not fill the void with things that were similar? She just wish she had the courage to ask her parents if she could go into acting.

"Char, Stephen. You two are going to be late for your first day back at school! It's ten past eight!" Jenna came down and pointed at one of the many clocks hanging in the kitchen. School for the two Smith children started at 8:30 and it was a fifteen minute ride to school.

"Oh! Right, thanks, Mum. Bye, Dad. Let's go, Charlotte." Stephen grabbed his bookbag from off of the chair next to him and motioned to his sister who was standing next to him.

"'Kay. Bye!" Charlotte gave both her parents a hug and then raced back upstairs to get her bookbag. The first day back at school _was _going to be a success and yes, by the end of this term, she would come up to her parents with her acting dream.

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**A/N –**

**It's summer. Finally. Finally graduation. A Whouffle multi-chap? Well, Whouffle-ish. My friend and I had this idea in our head since spring break last April and I decided to do something with that idea. It's summer and I have nothing better to do. I have a bunch of plotbunnies and I can't wait to write them. Please review? The intro was really rushed because I wanted to upload this tonight. I really hope that I didn't make Charlotte too Mary-Sueish. This chapter was mostly based on her and the next is Stephen, ect. Don't worry, I'm going to add some Matt and Jenna too. I'm going to try really hard to write the next chapter by the end of this week, if you guys like it. **

**- Irine.**


	2. The Last-Standing Smith Sibling Secret

**A/N – Nice little Smith family bonding time at the end. Oh yeah. *fist pump* And also, holy shit. The reviews and everything are totally awesome, guys. **

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"Who exactly are you looking at?" Golden haired Seth Newman asked his best friend, Stephen Smith, when they walked out of French class later that morning and Seth was trying to hold a conversation with his friend but Stephen just seemed to be spacing out. Usually Stephen was really attentive and was a great listener.

Stephen snapped out of his trance, his green eyes staring across the crowded hallway, trying to look for someone. "Who do you think?" He mumbled over to his best friend. He was probably in the mood to embarrass Stephen because Seth and Stephen had been friends since primary school and they knew every aspect of each other.

Seth pretended to think as he walked with Stephen to their lockers. "Grace Becker?" He asked, referring to the tall and willowy golden haired girl in their year. Ever since last autumn, Stephen had a crush or as Stephen called it- an attraction to Grace. Grace was almost as tall as Stephen- he was 5'9", she had bright cornflower blue eyes, porcelain skin, and golden hair that cascaded down her back like waves. He thought she was good-looking, but so did half the male population of the school. He didn't know how to get her to notice him. Besides going up to her and talking to her, but Stephen was freaked out by the idea of it. They didn't have any common interests. Stephen was into sports and Grace, even though she was more of a girly girl- from the look of her manicured fingers, two inch high heels, and putting on lipgloss everytime in class, she had a passion for theatre and was always the lead or something close to the lead in a school play.

Stephen's face turned bright red. "Shut up." He failed at hiding his crush. Stephen was never one that was good with hiding his feelings or anything and it had been that way for the past sixteen years.

"Why don't you go talk to her? She's right there. She's like handing out or promoting the next school play." Seth pointed down the hall, past the crowd of people, and you could see a willowy blonde girl talking and smiling and handing out pamphlets and stuff next to a huge poster notifying the student body of the upcoming school play, 'Alice in Wonderland.'

Stephen's eyes widened and looked across the flooded hallway for Grace. There she was, standing by the water fountain, handing out pamphlets next to the audition signup sheets for _Alice in Wonderland_. A rush of courage ran coursed through his veins for a moment, giving him the courage he needed to do what he had dreamt of doing for months but never got to because he was too shy, "You know what? I am going to talk to Grace. I've never talked to her before so now's the time." He decided firmly and slowly walked up the hallway, ditching his best friend, and finding the girl he had been attracted to since Year 10 and sparking up a conversation.

"Charlotte, right? Have you thought of auditioning for the school play?" Fifty feet away, Grace Becker, was busy advertising the auditions in the school play to the sister of the girl who was dying to talk to him.

Charlotte, who had been checking out the heavy-colored and vibrant _Alice in Wonderland _poster behind Grace for the times and dates to come by the theatre in hopes for a job backstage, turned to the upperclass girl, her hazel eyes in confusion. "Do I know you?" She asked her. Charlotte recognized the older girl from her pictures in the school yearbook, her doll-like face dominating every single picture in the theatre section of Loven's school yearbook. Grace was two years older than her and in her older brother's class. Did Grace know Charlotte because Charlotte was her classmate's sister? But Charlotte had never witnissed in her fourteen years her elder brother socializing with anyone else besides Seth Newman. Ever since Charlotte began walking and toddling around, she was used to seeing Seth around the Smiths' home due to him being close friends with Stephen.

If the reason why Grace knew Charlotte's name wasn't because of Stephen, it was the last reason: who her parents were. Of course. Grace's voice when she talked to Charlotte was sugary sweet, as if she was trying to talk super slow to a little toddler. She wasn't a little toddler; she was fourteen! And in fourteen years, still people gave her special treatment and were super nice to her because her parents were Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman. How nice. And also, Charlotte never in her life had even said a word to Grace.

Charlotte smiled back painfully sweet at the older girl, "No thanks. I'm more into the stagehand, y'know, sets and stuff?" She explained to Grace, hoping that Grace would see through her annoying sweet smile and realize that Charlotte wasn't a baby and didn't take Grace's crap.

Stephen squinted hard from the distance. The bright red cardigan and shiny brown hair. He knew who it was immediately: Charlotte. Of course. He had known her since the moment she came onto Earth and he always recognized her. Sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes that was a bad thing. But was it really happening? Charlotte and Grace? Talking? Charlotte and the girl of his dreams? They were friends? Wow, Stephen must've missed a lot. He must find out what they were talking about.

"Oh, okay. Take a flyer anyways!" Grace retaliated with a sweeter smile, flashing her blinding white teeth at the younger girl, and thrusted a flyer with the audition dates in her hand, much to her annoyance.

Charlotte grumbled a quick 'thanks' and then walked off, crumpling the flyer up into a small ball without even bothering to read what was printed on the flyer.

"Yes!" Stephen cheered to himself silently once he found Grace. She was alone, unlike before and that meant it could be easier to talk to her because there wasn't going to be huge intimidating other guys around or her friends. He took a deep breath and slowly paced up to her.

"Um, hi. Are you interested in an audition for the musical?" Grace slowly looked at Stephen, thrusting a flyer in his face like she did to his sister just a few mere moments before.

Stephen's face flushed red immediately. Grace. Grace Becker was actually talking to him. Words. They were directed towards him and they were talking. He cleared his throat clearly, "Um, what's the musical this year?" He blurted out without thinking and prayed to the heavens that Grace wouldn't think it was weird.

Her fair eyebrows knitted together in confusion for a quick moment, "Alice in Wonderland…" She pointed at the huge white graphic block letters on the heading of the flyer in his hands and pulled away.

_Great. Great. Who asks something like that?_ _The name of the musical is that huge thing on the front of the flyer she just rammed into my hands and on the huge poster behind her. God, how stupid can I be? Does she think I like her or something? Can't be- you know what? Maybe I should give up. She just thinks I'm weird, _Stephen started mentally beating himself up.

"Um, cool. Thanks. Maybe I'll consider it. Bye," Stephen mumbled hurriedly and dashed off before Grace could say anything or another word.

Great. That was how it went? Really? He had never even said a word to her, well they sorta kinda maybe did talk if you count him asking her the homework in health class two months ago, and the time when he had the most courage to go up and talk to her, he spazzes out. How amazing is that? It was going to take some time to shake it off and pretend that the conversation never happened because the embarrassment… no. Too much turmoil.

"Charlotte!" He called down the hall, running as quick as he could, pretending that it was a football game right now. That thought always motivated him to run faster. He needed to catch up with his sister.

"What?" Charlotte turned around once Stephen caught up with her. She brushed a piece of hair out of her face and stared at her brother. "Didn't we start a rule that we'd not acknowledge each other at school?" She scowled at Stephen. What could he possibly want? And wait, wasn't _he_ the one who set the 'we're not going to be siblings at school and pretend that we don't exist' rule? Okay, who makes a rule and breaks it?

Stephen took a deep breath at his headstrong little sister. No, her stubborn personality didn't seem to change at all outside the Smiths' penthouse. "I saw you talking to Grace Becker earlier… are you into theatre?" He asked her slowly, trying to make it seem as normal as possible. And it was normal right? To ask if his sister had a budding interest in theatre?

Charlotte's Iron Lady stare towards her brother didn't seem to defrost and she continued squinting at him. Did he find out her secret? That she had a budding interest for theatre? Great. Oh wait, that wasn't great. But Charlotte was being sarcastic, right? No. If Stephen found out, he would surely tell their parents and then that would lead to their parents getting mad at Charlotte. Stephen, out of the two, was closer to their parents and talked about everything with them.

"Maybe." And that was all Charlotte could say. And it was a pretty damn good reply if she could say so herself. She wasn't confirming her interest nor was she denying it. All Stephen had to do was to keep wondering and never find out the truth and he could torture himself overthinking. Charlotte was excited if his brother was to torture himself overthinking.

"Well, still. What were you talking about with Grace?" Stephen repeated, aiming more directly to what he wanted to find out from her.

"She tried to advertise the theatre thing to me. I was trying to look at when stagehand had to get together because I need extra credits for art classes because one, I can't draw, and two, I'll probably whack someone out if I try to play the flute," Charlotte explained, referring to how Loven made you take an art class someway or somehow for a required two years of school. Charlotte was not interested in drawing or painting nor in musical instruments. So that left theatre as there was studio art, music, and theatre. Since she was too scared to ask her parents about acting directly on stage, Charlotte found a way to be around the thing she loved without suffering the consequences she imagined her parents would put her through if she decided to pursue theatre.

"Oh, cool. Um, I guess you would be a good actor or something?" Stephen mumbled to her, now embarrassed. So Grace and Charlotte were just talking about the play. Nothing too important or life changing.

Charlotte slowly lit up inside but didn't try to cast it on the outside. "Really, Stephen?" She beamed at first, happy at the compliment.

"Yeah, why?" He asked her strangely, surprised and confused at her smiling when he said she could be a good actor or good in the theatre field.

The wavy-haired brunette realized what she did and her hazel eyes widened. She _could not _give it away to Stephen what her intentions and goals were. "I mean, if I _were_ to pursue something in the acting field, I would be an _actress,_" Charlotte corrected herself, giving a little eyeroll at the end to come off as if she was annoyed and had no interest whatsoever in acting.

"Okay, see you at home?" He looked over at his little sister suspiciously, but shook it off and walked off to class.

Charlotte sighed to herself gratefully, happy that her brother didn't uncover her secret love yet. _One day. Just one day. Now I need to be more careful, _Charlotte thought to herself before walking off to her next class of the day.

Just about thirty meters away, another Smith sibling was sighing to himself, also equally grateful that his secret didn't get out. If only he knew that he wasn't the only sibling with a secret.

* * *

"Hello, Charlotte!" Matt greeted his daughter with a huge grin on his face as she passed through the kitchen on the way up to her room after she got home from school. Usually Charlotte stopped in the kitchen on before she went up to her room to do homework and she usually got a small snack to bring up to her room.

She walked slowly back to the counter where she saw her dad peeling carrots, happily. There were two things wrong with this scene. When did her dad ever even cook? And it was only like four in the afternoon. "Dad, it's four in the afternoon. And when do you cook?" She frowned at him slowly, speaking her thoughts. Charlotte was always one who spoke her mind when it came to things and she wore her heart on her sleeve and her emotions were always clear.

Matt scraped off the last of the carrot skin before saying anything. "It's four-oh-eight! And I do cook!" He spoke up defensively.

Charlotte stared back at her dad before she walked to the pantry to get a small snack. "If anything burns down, I'm calling Mum. I don't trust you in the kitchen," she decided and slung her bag over her shoulder and walked up the long flight of stairs to her room to start on homework.

"I'll be sure to tell you what nothing is going to be burning! When you get called down to eat dinner, your dinner will be burn-free and healthy! Chicken stirfry and rice!" Matt called distantly to Charlotte.

"Yeah, right, Dad!" Charlotte screamed back down the stairs.

It wasn't until around an hour or two later when the fourteen year old girl was in the middle of highlighting world history notes, deep in her studying, did a loud wailing and piercing siren ring throughout the entire penthouse, causing her to nearly fall off her bed.

She sprinted out of her room, not looking back, one thing on her mind: fire. It sounded like it was the fire alarm and it was ringing louder and louder as the minute went by. Her mum always told her if there was a fire, try to get to the stairs and outside the penthouse as fast as you could and it was more important to save yourself than try to save something in the house. Charlotte nearly tumbled down the stairs at the speed she was running.

"Oh my-" she nearly screamed when she saw the sight in front of her when she got down to the kitchen. You had to pass through the kitchen to get to the stairs and out the penthouse. Her brother, mum, and dad were all in the kitchen and what she feared had happened happened. Oh God.

"TURN THAT ALARM OFF!" Jenna yelled angrily at the top of her lungs, knowing that she shouldn't have trusted her husband when he said he would cook that night. Why did this always happen when Matt cooked? Something burned or something went wrong.

Stephen had his ears covered and watched peacefully from the sidelines as his parents screamed at each other while Charlotte was trying to hold back the laughter. Rule #1 of Life? Never _ever _let Matt Smith cook or something bad would happen.

"How do you turn it off?" Matt screamed helplessly over the sound of the piercing alarm.

"Oh, move!" Jenna grabbed a newspaper on the counter and hopped onto the counter, stood up, and waved the newspaper over and over under a small white circular thing on the ceiling until the alarm died down.

"What happened?" Charlotte asked, daring to speak up first.

"Dad cooked. That's what happened," Stephen answered his sister, "now if you all will excuse me, I need to go write a literature paper." He walked back up to his room after the whole fire alarm thing died down.

"Same," Charlotte agreed to herself and looked over at the pot and the pans, silently mourning the chicken stirfry that could've been, now leaving Matt and Jenna alone in the kitchen.

"I hope you _never _decide to ever cook again." That was the only thing Jenna could say to her husband before shaking her head wistfully at him and then walking away, smiling to herself.

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**A/N – **

**Holy shit. Five reviews in less than twenty-four hours. Which is why I was motivated to write a 2,800 words chapter for you guys. Currently it's Tuesday, so I'll upload this sometime else because is currently down for some reason. Can we try to get to ten reviews? Still in shock because of the five reviews in less than a day. Are you guys going to be sad to see Matt Smith go? He is and will always be my Doctor. I'll miss the quirky bowtie, fez, and green sonic screwdriver. As I'm freaking out about Matt leaving, I'm absolutely dying to find out who Twelve is. Can't you guys believe it? We'll be able to, in a short time, call someone the Twelfth Doctor. Excited, yo. You guys da best. I hope you guys like this chapter. **

**Irine.**


	3. Drastic Evil Plans and the Fake-Out

**A/N – I think I might actually cry. Omg. The reviews and feedback have been amazing. I've read every single review and they all make me so happy. I really wish some of you guys had accounts because if so, I'd sent you a message worth War and Peace thanking each one of you for the reviews. Chapter three for you guys!**

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"You know." Charlotte pouted, her arms crossed over her chest, "I don't have to do this, Isa. Seriously, how did you even have an idea of this!?" She hissed to her best friend, Isa Porter, the next Tuesday, the two teenage girls standing in front of the double shut doors of the Loven Academy auditorium after school.

It wasn't just any regular Tuesday- it was the first day of auditions for Alice in Wonderland and here, Charlotte found herself- 5 minutes early to the auditions for the play. She had aspired to be in the play but only then settled for stagehand because she was still scared of her parents' reaction is she joined the play. But that was almost a week and a half go. Fast forward about four days after Charlotte and Grace's talk in the hallway. The visions of having her name ironed on the back of the shirt that all the castmates of the play got, heading to rehearsals every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, wearing the costume on opening night…

All those visions tempted her and a few days later she begged Isa to sign Charlotte's name up on the audition log because she didn't want to be seen. Charlotte received the instructions and lines for her audition and she between classes, before school, after school, and she stayed up until dawn memorizing the lines for the audition and practiced in front of Isa and her other friend who she confided in on her secret ambitions, Luna. They all praised her audition and said she nailed the lines flawlessly but that didn't make Charlotte feel less shaky for the audition.

She decided that she would audition on her first day to get it out of the way as the auditions were spread out over the course of three days. She was going to do this. Charlotte Smith was going to leave the auditorium that day with her audition in the minds of whoever was holding the auditions and she was going to leave a lasting mark on them. That was how determined she was to get a part in the play.

The brunette Isa glared her light brown eyes at the girl in front of her, "Charlotte Noelle Smith- yes, I used your middle name, you have been freaking out about this auditions for what? Weeks? And now you're leaving because you feel scared? That's not how things are supposed to be! I will go in there with you even for moral support. C'mon, Char." Isa had a pleading look in her eyes for her best friend.

Charlotte took a deep breath and sighed to herself. Isa was right. The moment Charlotte had been waiting for for weeks was here and the thought of throwing it out the window because she was scared? No. That couldn't happen. "Fine!" Charlotte decided firmly, Isa glowing now, "I'll go into that auditorium and I'll audition. How bad could it be?"

"That's the spirit!" Isa threw her arms around Charlotte and gave her a hug to give her some support. "Let's go." She walked up and pushed the doors to the auditorium open and the two uniform-clad teenage girls walked into the theatre.

The Loven Academy theatre was pretty huge so as the two girls walked deeper and deeper into the theatre, they could finally hear people talking. The spotlight was shone on a girl with fiery red locks as she was reciting a monologue and as Charlotte listened harder, she realized it was the scene where Alice ran into the Mad Hatter.

Charlotte and Isa walked over to where some kids who were auditioning today were seated. There was a long desk and three teachers seated there and a woman with slowly short graying hair and thick black glasses that Charlotte didn't recognize waved her hand and motioned to her. Charlotte walked over to her slowly.

"Sign here." The teacher pointed at a piece of paper on a clipboard in front of her. The list was headed 'auditions' and about half the page was taken up with names of kids, most likely those who were auditioning. Charlotte messily scribbled, 'Charlotte Smith' on the paper and she and Isa headed up to one of the seats that were high up, mostly so they could talk without anyone hearing. n

"You nervous?" Isa looked over at Charlotte once they were settled in their seats, tens of meters away from anyone.

Charlotte gave her friend a weak smile. "Maybe. I dunno. I just have to get it over with, right? Here, help me go over my lines?" She dug into her bag and pulled out a folded up copy of the audition script.

"Sure." Isa took the script. "What scenes are you doing?" She flipped through the booklet.

"The one where Alice is calling to the White Rabbit," Charlotte answered, leaning over to flip over to that page where she dog-eared bookmarked the page.

"You're auditioning for Alice?" Isa asked her curiously, her brows knitted together in confusion.

Charlotte's hazel eyes widened. She forgot. How could that have happened? No. She didn't even consider who she was going to audition for. The prospect and thought of being in the play was so big to her that she forgot to even think of which role she wanted to portray.

Isa noticed the surprise and shock on Charlotte's face and thought it was the best if she didn't mention anything next and let her just rehearse again, "Okay, never mind. Go on with your monologue." She gave her an easy smile.

Charlotte took a deep breath and recited her monologue. She had finally memorized it after almost a week of staying up until three. The pace she was going in was the pace that the teachers had always told her to read at; not too fast and not too slow. She added emotion at the peaks of any line needed and she maintained eye contact, made sure to project her voice to the limited volume she had.

"Char, you are going to knock those judges dead. That was perfect!" Isa gushed once she finished her monologue. She leaned over and threw her arms around Charlotte.

Right at that moment, "Charlotte Smith! It is your turn to audition. Charlotte Smith!" A loud woman's voice boomed throughout the theatre.

"Go!" Isa gave Charlotte a helpful nudge as Charlotte made her way down to the stage. She turned back and gave her friend a smile.

"Hi, um, I'm Charlotte." Charlotte raised her hand a little once she got in front of the stage to the judges.

"Ah, yes. Do you need an audition script to help you? Whether you use one or not is not going to influence your audition or which role you will receive," one of the teachers told her.

"I'm good. I memorized my monologue." She smiled over at the teacher, adding the part that she memorized her monologue in hopes that the teachers would see that she tried hard and strived to memorize her lines to show she was meant for this play.

"Get up on that stage and we can't wait to hear you," the teacher told her and smiled.

Charlotte walked up the stage and stood center, her hazel eyes on the judges. She was prepared to wow the judges, get herself a spot in the play.

Channeling her inner aggression for the first part of the monologue, "Why, how impolite of him. I asked him a civil question, and he pretended-!" She boomed, mirroring how Alice was angry when the White Rabbit had escaped in the play.

Then, it happened. Any part after that line. The words. They all escaped from her and she couldn't process anything. She couldn't remember anything. Her eyes went wide as she struggled as quick as she could to remember the next few words.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn't the only one who knew that she had forgotten her lines. "Dear, do you need an audition script? You are welcome to use one!" One of the teachers spoke up helpfully, sympathy in her voice.

"Oh! Um, okay," Charlotte mumbled hurriedly down the stage and grabbed a booklet and walked back up the stage. She could hear hushed whispers coming from where most of the upperclassmen were sitting. Great. They were most likely talking about her. That was real nice. How could she have forgotten her lines? She knew every single word when she went over it with Isa.

She flipped open to the page in the booklet she was auditioning for and read through the entire thing as fast as she could, not making eye contact at all, not even projecting her voice. All that was on her mind was to get out of here. She had made a fool out of herself enough and everyone was sure to be talking about her audition the next day. "Can you guys believe it!? The daughter of Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman auditioned for the school play and guess what!? She sucks!" That was going to be the gossip of Loven Academy. Charlotte could hardly wait.

"Thank you for auditioning, Charlotte. We'll get back to you," One of the teachers said to her after her audition.

"Yup," Charlotte mumbled and hurriedly got off the stage. Isa was already waiting for her by the door so with their stuff.

"Can we like get out of here now?" Charlotte hissed to Isa. She could feel hot tears welling up in her eyes. What had happened? How did she go from sure to win a role in the play to forgetting all of her lines? This was officially the worse day ever. She just wanted to go home and climb under her covers and forget today ever happened.

"Char, your audition was still good. Who freakin' cares? That was amazing. If you don't get picked or whatever, then screw the judges. C'mon." Isa gave Charlotte a small encouraging nudge and the two were about to leave the theatre until they heard someone.

"Wait, Charlotte! Before you leave!" Charlotte turned and saw willowy blonde pacing up towards the two girls. It was Grace Becker, the Audrey Hepburn of the school. Did the star thespian of the school want to poke more fun at Charlotte? Great.

"What? I barely know you," Charlotte retorted at Grace. Usually when she was mad or cranky, it ended up getting the best of her and she was outwardly mean to people who annoyed her. But in this way, it was true. She barely knew Grace.

Grace flinched back a little. "Look, I know your audition went a little-" She tried to find the appropriate word to describe the younger girl's audition.

"It went shitty. I know. Cut the crap." Charlotte crossed her arms over her chest.

"Look, it's okay. I just wanted to let you know I think you did very well for a beginner and it you practice just a lot more, the next time the play rolls around, things will be better." Grace touched Charlotte's arm lightly and smiled.

Charlotte looked the least fazed. Her phone in her bag started buzzing. She pulled it out to see that it was Stephen calling her. "Look, I gotta go. Thanks." She held up her phone and walked away from Grace. Grace's attempt to make things better turned out to probably be her way of mocking her.

Grace nodded as Charlotte turned and walked out the theater. "Hello?" She said into her phone. Why was Stephen calling her?

"Charlotte! Where are you?" He asked, some tints of surprise and shock and worry in his voice. At this point, Charlotte wasn't sure whether the odds were all against her. Why did Stephen suddenly want to know where she was?

"Still at school…" Charlotte answered uneasily into her phone, "why?"

"Have you even checked what time it is!?" He nearly screamed into the phone. Luckily for Charlotte, there was a clock above the door, where she was heading out to, 5:31. Shit. She hadn't even realized that the audition would take that long.

"Shit. Um, who's wondering where I am?" Charlotte's eyes widened. Her parents were going to kill her if she knew that she was late to a family dinner or something because she was at school for an audition. And she was a horrible liar as well so they'd never believe her if she said that she was at the library studying for a test or something.

"Do you not realize what today is?" Stephen asked her briskly into the phone, almost sounding rude and demanding.

Charlotte was taken aback by her brother's tone. Yeah, the two of them fought like mice and cat every day but they weren't that rude or talked that way to each other. "The day when you finally got your monthly and that's why you're so rude?" Charlotte asked back in a snarky tone.

Stephen gave an exasperated sigh from over the phone. How did he even live with Charlotte? "No, Charlotte. Today's the day of that party that Mum and Dad've been planning for weeks. Remember? Mum pounding us asking whether people prefer which finger foods and stuff?"

Charlotte, at this point, want to smack herself in the head for being an idiot. How could she have forgotten? For weeks her mum pounded the two siblings on foods and ideas for this huge family party thing and if she was late to it, her parents would kill her. How did she even let it pass her mind.

"Oh God, Stephen. Mum and Dad'll kill me! Do you not realize it?!" Charlotte started freaking out, instead of rushing home as soon as possible so her life could be spared.

"I can see that," Stephen said, "if you want your life to be spared then get home. What the hell are you even doing still at school at this hour?"

"Um, well-" Charlotte started out. "You know what? It'll be easier if I just explain to you when I get home." She shut her phone and sprinted away back home without saying a goodbye to Isa or anyone.

Usually if she didn't go home right away when it was dismissal then she'd have to take the tube back home. There was usually a wait until the next ride but luckily today there was no wait and she got home in the time it usually took her to get to school on a normal day.

"There you are!" Stephen exclaimed right when Charlotte got through the front door. It seemed like he was waiting for her to get home, waiting every second of it. There were people setting up the last minute decorations and food, even an ice sculpture. This party was the epitome of fancy.

"Yeah, I gotta change. See ya." Charlotte was about to sprint off up to her room and change into that pretty teal dress she had planned to wear to the party before her brother stopped her.

"What were you doing at school so late?" Stephen asked her briskly, his usually fair emerald eyes turning dark. This usually happened when he was angry.

Charlotte was confused. Why was Stephen suddenly all up in her case? Not even her parents were that protective of her and gave her a right to be independent. Things with Stephen had been weird lately. Ever since when he went up to her in the middle of the hallway asking what she had been talking about with Grace Becker, he had been pining her more and more and it was sort of weird. He talked to her more, asked more about her, and just seemed more up in her case.

"Okay." Charlotte took a deep breath. "You cannot tell anyone this and especially not Mum and Dad." She stared at him solidly.

Stephen nodded. She probably had a boyfriend and was seeing him and sneaking around after school with him. He braced himself for that answer.

"I auditioned for the school play," Charlotte said quickly.

Wait, what? Did Charlotte say she was auditioning for the school play? Did Stephen hear her right?

"Alice in Wonderland? With Grace?" He burst out, shocked. It was the first thing he thought about and Stephen had a bad habit of speaking explicitly his mind. Why of all things did the first thing he'd think about was Grace Freakin' Becker? It was time to move on!

"Yeah," Charlotte said shyly. "I've been wanting to be in the school play for a while. And not like stagehand or anything."

"Wow," Stephen said quietly, not at all prepared for what he heard.

"You know what? I gotta get changed." Charlotte walked up to her room, feeling the awkwardness and sudden regret that she told her brother. He would probably judge her too.

If Charlotte was going to be in the school play, Grace had an awfully big chance to be in the school play. They'd be in the school play and from the look of it and their budding closeness, they'd be friends.

It was his plan at first to join the school play, just to have a chance with Grace. If both he and Charlotte tried out and they both made it, they'd both be in the school play and that would be all of the awkwardness and maybe cause drama through the entire family and it was certainly bring attention to the two Smith siblings at school, especially when they tried to keep it low at school.

So what would Stephen have to do to ensure being in the school play, being around Grace and keeping away his sister without crushing her dreams?

* * *

**A/N -**

**So Stephen got a little evil at the end... Well, there's a reason for everything and you'll see a full circle in no time, my friends. I've become dedicated with this story that I've started an update schedule to keep myself on track. Haha. Feedback and the reviews have been amazing and I've never been more proud of anything in my life. Try to get up to fifteen reviews? I love you guys!**

**Follow me on Tumblr? allhailthequeenofwords**

**- Irine**


	4. Smith Family Civil War

**A/N – Disclaimer for y'all, this chapter isn't going to be good because I kind of went on the downside with ideas and it took me forever to write this. More explanation after this chapter is over.**

* * *

"Charlotte, dear. If you eat that fast for all your meals, you're going to end up getting the hiccups for the rest of the day." Jenna observed her younger daughter, the light of her life, shoveling cereal down her mouth at breakfast about a week later.

The brunette looked up at her mother from her bowl of cereal. It wasn't her fault that today was the day that they were posting the roles of who got into the school play and Charlotte was dying to know if she had gotten a part in the school play. Okay, she screwed up _just a little_ on her audition. She still could've gotten a tiny part in the play and she could've been fine.

"Yeah, it's not _ladylike_," Stephen teased her. He was sitting right next to her at the table and eating breakfast. He knew why his sister was freaking out and eating so quickly and seemed to be in a hurry. He was too. Except he was better with hiding it.

The two Smith siblings both knew that today was the day that the cast list for _Alice in Wonderland _was going to be posted at school and they were prying on the edge of their seats eating breakfast. They both had to get to school to see the list. Charlotte on the other hand had no clue that Stephen had secretly auditioned two days later.

Stephen had been nervous as a sixteen year old boy could be, auditioning for the play. Between Charlotte and Stephen, Stephen had always been better with hiding his feelings and calming himself more and he was more reserved. But he walked into that theatre confidently and waited until his name was to be called. He walked up to the stage, ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. He read through his audition monologue at a slow pace and projected his voice and added emotion at the parts that needed emotion. The head of the drama department, Mrs. McFallyn, who was running the auditions told him his audition was great and good luck.

Stephen was sure his audition wasn't great and she just said that because she said that to everyone not to crush their hopes. After a week, Stephen came to the conclusion that if he wasn't in the play, that might be the best thing. Charlotte auditioned and what if she didn't get a role and he did? Charlotte had confided in Stephen with her secret and two days later he goes and steals the limelight? He'd have to find a different way or time to talk to Grace or best, move on. The crush was going nowhere so it would just be better to give up.

"Shut up." Charlotte kicked Stephen under the table and stood up and brought her empty bowl over to her mum by the sink. "When's Dad coming back?" She asked curiously. Her dad had been gone for a few days, auditions or something, he had told her two days ago. Matt had said he'd be back around today and Charlotte was curious.

"Around today. He'll probably be home as early as when you get him from school or as late as tonight. But I'm sure he will be back today for dinner," Jenna assured her daughter to her delight.

"C'mon, Charlotte. We gotta get to school or we'll be late." Stephen stood up from the table and brought his empty bowl over to Jenna.

"Thanks, dear." Jenna took the bowl from her older son. "Have a great day at school and don't be late for tonight!" But today was not going to be a great day at the very least.

* * *

"You nervous?" Isa whispered to Charlotte in French class, obviously referring to the audition cast list that was to be posted before lunch. Gladly for Charlotte, French was right before lunch so it wasn't that much long of a wait.

Charlotte shrugged as she scribbled down the next answer on her conjugation worksheet. The seats in French class were in pods, so two desks were pushed together. Isa and Charlotte usually sat next to each other and often took advantage of that opprotunity in class by talking to each other but somehow still managed to pull good marks in class.

"I guess. Maybe I got a part, maybe I didn't," Charlotte said as she tried to stay calm and neutral without giving the hint away to Isa that she would absolutely die if she didn't get the part. Theater and the dream of acting had built its presence in Charlotte's world and her world would shatter like a three year old dropping a snowglobe if she didn't get a role. She had aspired to be so much and to be in the play and if she didn't get it; she didn't know what would happen.

"You probably did," Isa assured her friend.

"Hopefully," Charlotte muttered as she finished her worksheet and waited for class to pass by as soon as possible.

* * *

"Oh. My. God," Charlotte nearly screamed to herself when she got to where the list of cast members were after French class. She nearly had to push through five upperclassmen who all looked like they wanted to beat her up later but that could wait.

She ran her finger up and down to see where her name was. The cast list was in alphabetical order and usually 'Smith' was usually near the end. When she saw a certain name, she nearly blew up. Was her vision correct? Did she _actually _see the name _Stephen Smith_ on the cast list? Playing the role of the Mad Hatter? There must've clearly been a mistake. There was surely more than one Stephen Smith in the entire Loven student body.

There was a Stephen Smith but no Charlotte Smith. She ran her finger down the list one more time to be certain. Grace Becker had gotten a role: Alice. Who didn't see that coming? But no Charlotte Smith. How could this have happened? Her dedication and her drive to get a role in the school play ended up resulting in her _not_ getting a role? A panging feeling was rushing through Charlotte. Defeated. Like a windup ballerina doll slowly slowing down.

No. It just couldn't have been him. _Her brother._ Stephen knew that Charlotte wanted to be in the play so he went and auditioned himself? Why? What was his motive? To bring her down? He secretly as well had a budding dream and love for theater? Charlotte had no clue what the _hell_ was going on right now but she knew that she had to confront Stephen and get the truth out from him as soon as possible.

But luckily for Charlotte, she didn't have to walk far or waste no time looking for her older brother because the moment she turned at her heels to go find him, she saw him approaching her and the cast roles list. Well, at least now she knew _which _Stephen Smith it was that auditioned.

From the distance, Stephen's eyes bugged open when he saw her. No, it wasn't Grace Becker but his sister, Charlotte. His secret was out. Or maybe it was out the moment she saw his name on the cast roles list (if it was even on the list). He was dead. Stephen prayed that Charlotte wouldn't take it the wrong way if his name was on the list. They hadn't really talked more surrounding the topic of the school play ever since Charlotte hastily confessed to Stephen her secret passion.

He felt guilt looming over him like those cartoon rain clouds when he went to audition a few days later but he knew this was what was right and what he should be doing. What were the odds of him getting a role, he thought as he went in and auditioned.

"Hey, sis," Stephen murmured to Charlotte as he walked up to the audition cast list and quickly glanced at the list to see if his name was on it. He saw his name and looked over to see which role. Mad Hatter. Great. He always thought if he even got a role in the play, it would be a tiny role and not something big. Clearly he had been fooled and underestimated himself. He couldn't help but slowly smile to himself but he had to wipe off that smile.

"Don't 'hey sis' me," Charlotte snarled and glared at her brother. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she _clearly _did not look happy and the worst that Stephen thought of probably came true. He shut his eyes for a moment and prayed that Charlotte wasn't snappy for the reason he thought she was snappy about.

"Look at this." Charlotte thrusted the audition cast list into his hand and pointed near the bottom of the page where Stephen's name was.

Stephen looked down where Charlotte was pointing and held his breath for a moment. Mad Hatter. Does that mean he _actually_ got into the play? Well, of course he would be happier but under the circumstances right now he wasn't sure if it was time to be all happy and celebrate.

"Why did you do it?" Stephen heard Charlotte ask him and he looked up. She looked genuinely hurt and her eyes looked red. Only when Charlotte's eyes were red was it that she was about to cry. He was around her when she was little enough and survived every tantrum and knew exactly what would lead to a Charlotte breakdown.

At that point, Stephen didn't know what to do. He didn't even mean to get a part in the play. He just auditioned and somehow he landed the part? And he _really_ didn't mean to hurt Charlotte. How was it that he would know one of them would land a role and the other no?

"I trusted you," Charlotte said, her voice breaking, "I can't even tell Mum and Dad about it so I told you because I thought you cared but then you went off and got the one thing I wanted the most. _Why?_"

All Stephen could do was stare back blankly at Charlotte and stall. He couldn't say anything. The situation could get worse if he actually told her the truth of why he even auditioned in the first place. He couldn't let the situation get any worse. Well, it was pretty bad right now. He didn't mean to 'betray' her if that was what she was hinting at anyways.

"Look, I don't care," Charlotte said bluntly after getting no response and only silence from her older brother. "Whatever your issues are, this means war." And with that, Charlotte walked away to lunch, leaving Stephen clueless and confused in the hallway.

* * *

**A/N –**

**It's summer now. I know it's been two weeks since I've updated. A lot of writer's block so that's why this chapter was only half the length of a usual chapter. I've kind of run of ideas for this story. The reviews and feedback I get from you guys are amazing. Do you guys want to pitch some ideas? I need them as I can't really think of anything more. Keep reviewing and keep being amazing!**


	5. Alliances and Fallouts

**disclaimer: i don't own doctor who. 'cause if i did, matt smith wouldn't be leaving. sighz. **

* * *

Things around the Smith house now were, uh, a little more than awkward now. It wasn't long before the entire house noticed.

Team Charlotte was an army of one and still silently pitting Stephen for the school play thing. Yes, she was still angry about it but she decided to let it go for the meantime and join the ranks with the stagehand crew and help out with props again. No one was talking about the fact that she didn't get a role in the play so she was eternally grateful. Charlotte had been the victim of a nasty rumor or gossip before and it was something she tried her absolute best to avoid at all times. She didn't talk to Stephen much anymore and decided to get rides from Isa to school and back now to avoid being stuck in a car with Stephen every morning.

On the other hand, Team Stephen was er, interesting. Stephen was now feeling extremely guilty about the school play and wanted to not be at ends with Charlotte anymore. Before, they were at ends with each other but it was the brother/sister annoyance thing but now it was apparent their fight wasn't a brother/sister thing. Charlotte was angry at him and he knew he wasn't going to be forgiven by his younger sister any day soon now. Rehearsels for the play had yet to begin and Stephen wanted to drop out of the play. One, he joined for the all the wrong reasons, and two, it had driven a wedge in between him and his sister.

"Charlotte, your brother is waiting for you. You're going to be late if you keep dawdling!" Matt told his daughter one morning when he noticed she was still around the kitchen five minutes after the time she usually left for school with her brother.

The teenager turned to her father. "I get rides from Isa now. Stephen can go alone," she answered simply. Her parents were obviously oblivious to the drama and the fight between the two siblings and Charlotte intended it to stay that way. She could fight her own battles and if her parents were in the way, well that could create more drama. Or worse, they could take Stephen's side as they always seemed to favor him more than her. That was far from what Charlotte wanted at all.

Matt frowned to himself slowly. "I guess we'll all have a family dinner tonight? Your mum is cooking because she refuses to let what happened last time happen." He laughed to himself.

Charlotte managed a small smile. Family dinner? Great. Note the sarcasm. "That's great, Dad. I have to go now. Bye," Charlotte said quickly and scrambled to get the stuff together for school and walked out of the kitchen and onto her day.

"You look confused," Jenna noted at Matt when she walked down to the kitchen and noticed his stumped expression.

Matt bit into the waffle he quickly made and snapped back to reality at the tone of Jenna's voice. "Er, yes. Do you think Charlotte and Stephen have been acting weirdly?" He asked Jenna. Maybe if he didn't notice it, someone else did.

Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion at what Matt said. "What do you mean? They've been acting normally and how they typically are around each other. The only thing that's changed for them as siblings is that they don't ride to school anymore and Charlotte goes with Isa. I never thought or dismissed it as something weird and just that she wanted to be with her friend."

"Well, when I mentioned that there was a family dinner tonight, she sounded less than excited and when I mentioned for her to go with Stephen to school, she also didn't sound totally on board or excited with that either," Matt replied.

"Did you not say that I am going to be cooking tonight at dinner? Because if you didn't, I can understand why she's not excited and acting all cautious." Jenna chuckled to herself.

"Hey! That was a one time thing!" Matt defended himself, "I had to take my eye off of the chicken to cut the carrots!"

"Yes, and the smoke detector rang off and I'm sure half the building heard. What can't you burn Matt?" Jenna retorted.

"And you're better at cooking?" Matt argued back playfully.

Jenna nodded. "I have to go now but I'll be back at say... six o'clock tonight? Tell the kids that dinner'll be here at around seven or seven-thirty."

Matt nodded in agreement. "Maybe I'm seeing things weird and Stephen and Charlotte are at peace," he mused quickly. Maybe that was all just a big mistake and the two of them were at peace.

"Probably. I'll see you later," Jenna agreed and then walked away to start her day.

* * *

"Is it too late to decorate sets in the play?" Charlotte went to Mrs. Rhiner, the director of sets in the school plays after school. If she couldn't have a spot in the school play, she might as well shimmy back to her spot in the school play as a set decorator.

"Mrs. Rhiner, I know that the time to sign up to do that is over but please. I need this. It's my passion," Charlotte added pleading and begging at the middle aged dark haired staff member.

She ran into Mrs. Rhiner in the hallways after school and a lightbulb went off in her mind to get back a spot in the crew. Signups for decorating was during the week of auditioning but it never occured to Charlotte to sign up for the crew as well in case she didn't get a role in the play. Charlotte would plead until the end of time to get a spot back if that was what she had to do.

Mrs. Rhiner looked over Charlotte with her blue green eyes, the two of them being the only ones in the hallway except for some passing students every now and then. Charlotte Smith. The girl that had volunteered for at least four school plays decorating sets within the past two years. She had brilliant ideas for decorating the sets but would it be special treatment to give the daughter of two famous actors a spot in decorating sets two weeks after sign ups were over?

"Charlotte, you know sign ups are over, right?" Mrs. Rhiner answered slowly to see where this would go. Charlotte seemed pretty desperate on getting a spot again. Would it be special treatment?

"Yes. But I need this. I completely failed my audition as I was stupid enough to think I'd get a role in the school play and I realized that decorating sets is where I belong." Charlotte took a deep breath. Decorating sets was where she belonged in her mind. She got tons of compliments on the doghouse she painted in Loven's production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown last fall and she considered that one of her best creations in her time decorating sets. She brought the doghouse home and it was in her room now.

The staff member looked back at the girl. Charlotte was definitely one of the best set decorators at Loven that Mrs. Rhiner had seen in her time at the elite private school, despite Charlotte only fourteen.

"Charlotte, you know you're one of the best set decorators and very useful to the group. Since you're very dedicated to how the props turn out in all the plays, I'll give you a second chance to be able to join the cast again. But this is your only chance, okay?" Mrs. Rhiner compromised.

Charlotte's eyes lit up happily. She couldn't believe it. A second chance? "Thank you so much, Mrs. Rhiner!" Charlotte threw her arms around the woman in gratitude.

Mrs. Rhiner chuckled. "First meeting is Friday afternoon. Now let go of me, dear." She looked down at the teenager who had her hands all around her.

"Sorry. I promise I won't be late! Bye, Mrs. Rhiner!" Charlotte called as she walked out the hallway and left for home.

* * *

It wasn't even two seconds before Charlotte could've put her stuff down on her chair and collapse on her bed in happiness before she felt her phone buzz in her bag. Happiness swelled up in her as she grabbed her phone out and checked to see who it was.

It was from Isa. "Blacklist Yahoo whatever you do. Don't ask. Just do it immediately. Please." Isa had texted Charlotte.

Charlotte squinted and frowned at the text in front of her. The two girls had made a pact a while ago that if they saw any rumours or gossip on Charlotte's parents or such, they'd blacklist and blocked the site. But typically before Charlotte would blacklist the source of where it came from, she would look at the page because the gossip was usually something stupid and made up. Like last time there was a rumour going around that Jenna planned to leave for Antarctica for two months to help save the glaciers? Her mum had laughed when the rumour got back to her and stated that even though saving glaciers was a good cause

for all, she couldn't even think of braving the cold. Whatever it was, it was most definitely something stupid.

She grabbed her laptop from out of her bag and waited for it to load and typed Yahoo into the search bar. The page loaded quickly and instead of going directly to blacklist and block the page and its sources, Charlotte clicked in the 'news' tab to look for whatever it was Isa told her to block.

It wasn't a few scrolls down and a couple of click was it for Charlotte to find the dreaded webpage that she wished and prayed with all her heart that she never searched up.

"Oh my God." Charlotte could barely breathe and her stomach immediately dropped. A huge pit grew in her stomach as she eyed the scandalous article that was lit up on her laptop screen.

But why did this lasting burn hurt so bad even though she knew it was all lies and rumours?

"Have you seen thing?" Charlotte nearly threw her laptop down on Stephen's desk as she almost kicked down his door. At the moment she didn't care about her argument or impending fight with Stephen. He was the only person in her world that also understood how it felt to go through something like this.

"So you're talking to me now?" Stephen stared at his sister and how she barged into his room without any warning. Last time he checked, they weren't exactly on speaking terms.

"Yeah, put away that stupid homework you're doing right now and look at this and tell me it's wrong." Charlotte hurriedly snapped open the screen of her laptop to show her older brother the article that she came across.

"Damn," Stephen muttered almost inaudibly as he took in the article. He was speechless. Out of all the rumors that's clouded around his family, he was completely and utterly shocked at this one. How exactly crazy were the press?

Charlotte's computer was pulled up on one of those annoying gossip sites that made up rumors any day and this wasn't exactly the time for him to ask why she was on a gossip site.

"Yeah, damn exactly," Charlotte answered back. She didn't care if she shouldn't be talking about to her brother but who else did she have that understood?

"Jenna-Louise Coleman cheating scandal?" Stephen read over the article aloud. That was the heading in bold at the very top of the page. There was no way you could've missed it. There was an accompany picture for "proof" of their mom and some guy on a set.

"She's an actress," Charlotte snorted as she mentally took in the article, "don't confuse an acting kiss with a real one." Didn't the press know that her mum was married and had a husband that was oh wait- her dad!?

The picture was on the set of the indie film that her mum had been filming and even though she played a small role in it, it was still a huge deal as she apparently made a name for herself in sci-fi and fantasy film/TV shows thanks to Doctor Who, where her parents had met even though it was almost twenty years ago.

"Some co-star," Stephen read, "Bridge Gravens?" He pointed confusedly at the caption at the bottom.

"Who names a poor kid Bridge?" Charlotte stared in disbelief at the page. This Bridge guy looked about their parents' age and it was a picture of him on set and casually talking with their mum. It didn't look so scandalous. What was so scandalous about talking?

"Probably a stage name or something. This is so stupid." Stephen slammed shut Charlotte's computer. "We never paid attention to their rumors before so why should we start now?"

Those words hit Charlotte because well, they were absolutely true and exact. Why should she suddenly start to care about pointless rumors and meant nothing to her family?

"You know what? Fun talking to you. I'm gonna go back to my room and get a start on homework." Charlotte grabbed her laptop swiftly and headed out of her brother's room without another word.

"'Kay," Stephen mumbled after she was out of earshot. He was about to apologize for the play thing but she was already headed out the door and far away from there.

* * *

**A/N - **

**Yo yo yo, fanfiction readers. So yeah. Chapter five? Thank you so much for the suggestions and reviews for the last chapter. Kind of cured of the writer's block and I know what to write now and I have some ideas. You guys are absolutely fantastic and I dunno what I'd do without you guys. Can we try to get this to thirty reviews? I know we can. Love you all! :)**


	6. Bubbly Smiles and Mac 'n' Cheese

**A/N - Early author's note. It's been way too long since I've last written a chapter for this story. Nope, not abandoning. I've been busy a lot lately, finally got a laptop so the whole writing thing'll possibly be easier. School is starting in a little over two weeks so it's sad that summer's coming to a close, but I seriously hope that I haven't been out of the loop for not writing much. Enjoi. xx. **

* * *

A cheating scandal? _A cheating scandal. _Sometimes Charlotte really hated living in the limelight and being dubbed the "baby of the TARDIS" by those nostalgic _Doctor Who _press members. Sure, it was cool to get dressed up once in a while and be able to go to a premiere or something, but this was the really ugly side of living her life in the public that she hated.

She walked back to her room, slammed her door shut, and collapsed down on her Trina Turk duvet and sighed to herself. Today was a day. Wow, really. It was. _Let's rank the positive things that happened today, _Charlotte thought to herself. _First, I got my part in stage crew back so I'm partially in the school play. I talked to Stephen for the first time in days today, so those are the good things of today. After all, focus on the positive, right? _Charlotte sighed to herself again and blew a lock of her chestnut brown hair off her face in defeat.

The on-blooming scandal wasn't the only thing on the two Smith kids mind as it had spread to Matt and Jenna as well.

* * *

"This is ridiculous!" Jenna cried in disdain, staring at the magazine cover that her publicist had brought to her earlier that day when she was notified of it all. "The press; they're leeches!"

They were sitting in the kitchen and trying to make sense of the rumor that was spreading through the social media sites and it certainly wasn't a fun one. What was different about this rumor was that, well it wasn't true, it still hurt because it wasn't directed _towards_ either Matt or Jenna but their family.

"Do you think Charlotte and Stephen know of this?" Matt stared aimlessly at the cover of the magazine, praying that their kids wouldn't actually believe these rumors were true and thought that their family was crumbling down or anything. The two of them were teenagers and well, when you were a teenager, everything you heard that was bad news or such was ten times more traumatic for you.

"Hopefully not. They hate the tabloids as much as we do and remember when Charlotte was six or seven and she came home from the first day of school crying because some kid wouldn't stop teasing her about some tabloid scandal that was all the rage during that time?" Jenna feared the worse, remembering that there was nothing she could've done that day nearly a decade ago when she expected her little daughter to come home from school happy and swelling with pride but instead tearing up over lies that Jenna or Matt couldn't stop. They were supposed to be their kids' parents, protecting them about everything but there were certain things that not even the greatest parenting skills could shield them from and it made Jenna remarkably sad inside.

"So what do we do? If they've seen it, they must know it's false," Matt answered. He looked over slowly at Jenna who was looking down and biting her nails. She always did that when she was anxious, distressed, or worried. "It _is _false, right?" He asked uneasily.

"Of course." Jenna sounded furious that Matt would even muster to come up with a question or even have a thought about her cheating out on their family. She cared too much and would sacrifice anything for her children and family.

Matt sensed the fury and frustration in Jenna's voice. "Sorry for asking," he apologized quickly, "it kind of came off as sort of a joke."

"It's fine." Jenna shook her head, sighing. "It's the fact that I don't know if I can do this movie anymore because of the bad publicity. It's not too late to leave the project. We're just past the auditions stage of _Riot and Marches,_" she suggested, thinking of her options of what to do to stop these rumors. _Riot and Marches _was the name of the movie and it was about this feminist, played by Jenna, who stops at nothing to get women their equal rights. Publicity had come out of this project when it was announced Jenna was playing the starring role of Ophelia, and the film was labelled as moving and somewhat controversial but it kind of was the thrill of being in a movie that was like the critics said, "moving" and "somewhat controversial" that drew Jenna closer to the role.

"Don't just quit because of the rumors. Before you were cast, you couldn't stop talking about how excited you were for this movie and you finally got the role that you wanted. Why give up on your dreams? Besides, more publicity and things will come to light if you leave the project and it will look as though you are trying to hide something which you aren't," Matt advised her. "Stay and fight."

_Stay and fight, _Jenna replayed her husband's words in her mind. Those were good words to live by. Inspiring also. "Thanks, Matt." Jenna smiled weakly at him from across the table. She _was _going to fight this and get through this no matter how ugly the tabloids made it to be. They knew none of the truth and the truth was, Jenna was blessed to have such an amazing family and no one or no lies could come between that.

* * *

"Charlotte, Stephen, dinner!" Jenna called from the bottom of the stairs up to her kids around an hour later after her discussion with Matt and she was done cooking dinner. She was skilled in the art of making four-cheese mac 'n' cheese and luckily, every member of the Smith family loved it so she made it hopefully to the delight of her family and to wash out the gruesome not-delight that happened earlier.

"Do they know?" Charlotte whispered when her brother walked out of his room and to the top of the stairs where she was standing, waiting for him.

Stephen shrugged. "Probably. Talia probably told Mum, I mean after all, that _is _her job after all. Whatever dinner is, it smells delicious." He raced down the stairs as quick as he could in the direction of the food. Whenever Stephen smelled the smell of a delicious home cooked meal, all thoughts shut off and the only thing on his mind was the food.

Talia was Jenna's publicist and she was sort of close to Stephen and Charlotte. They didn't talk a lot and all Charlotte knew was that it was Talia's job to get the publicity around Jenna managed and stuff. It was all a blur to Charlotte as what the many people that worked for her parents did. She had asked her mum when she was five what all those people did and Jenna had just replied for Charlotte to not worry and to just have fun.

"You're such a boy," Charlotte muttered as she paced herself down the stairs and shook her head at her older brother. Do all boys just care about video games, food, and what not? Then Charlotte realized to herself: this was the first time in probably weeks that she thought of her brother like how she thought of him in her love-hate way. It was nice for a change that they weren't hating each other and it was just hate. '

She arrived down to the kitchen table and saw her parents and brother sitting down at the table. There was shiny and cheesy mac 'n' cheese in a big white glass tray that Jenna used every time she made mac 'n' cheese. Even standing meters away, the cheese looked piping hot and bubbly. _Mum's four cheese macaroni_, Charlotte thought to herself excitedly. Her favorite dish.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to eat?" Matt laughed and took a bite of the macaroni on his plate. It looked like her entire family had helped themselves to the bubbling dish. But who could resist Jenna-Louise Coleman's famous mac 'n' cheese?

"Sorry." Charlotte lit up in a smile and walked over to the empty seat at the corner of the rectangle table. She scooped some mac 'n' cheese onto her plate and took a bite. _Heaven, _she thought to herself. For most of her life, Charlotte attempted to guess what cheeses her mum used in this recipe but every time she asked, Jenna would turn her away. Over the past few years, Charlotte was sure the four cheeses were cheddar, pepper jack, parmesan, and Swiss.

She took another bite and looked around at the table. Stephen was staring at his dinner as if it was the most interesting this ever and was oddly quiet. Even when he and Charlotte were fighting, he was still talking a lot at dinner, no matter how awkward things could be. Her parents seemed to be silent and kept exchanging glances as if they knew what was going on. And for Charlotte, she knew what was going on. Even though she was "the baby of the TARDIS", she caught on to things quickly and observed her surroundings and understood what was going on around her.

Around five minutes passed before anyone said another word. Just silence for five full minutes. She counted in her head the seconds before anyone would make a sound and she stared at the antique clock hanging on the wall. Usually at dinners the Smiths talked a lot and if it was mac 'n' cheese night, no one would stop talking and there was always someone frustrated due to constantly being interrupted.

"I assume the reason why you're all quiet is that you've seen, um, the article..." Jenna cleared her throat. Charlotte and Stephen snapped up and stared at their mother instantly as soon as they heard those words. Well, that basically confirmed that the reason why they were so silent was because of the article.

"And they have." Matt observed how the two teenagers nearly snapped their necks, looking up as quick as possible when Jenna brought the article up.

"It was an accident- Charlotte showed me!" Stephen rambled quickly, "but don't worry, Mum. I _never _thought anything was going on. Those tabloids are just lies, right?"

Charlotte glared at her brother. "Thanks for telling on me. And besides, it showed up on my Internet homepage. You can't really block something like that when it pops right up in the middle of your laptop screen," she fibbed. It wasn't the whole truth but it was some of it. "But again, sorry. Also, I didn't think anything was going on either."

"That's great because nothing _is _going on. Bridge is just a co-star and I think in that picture we were discussing lines. That is all," Jenna clarified the situation. Inside, she was sort of sad to have her kids see the article but somehow or one way they would discover it. It was better for it to be cleared up, no questions asked as soon as possible. At least now her kids knew the truth and the complete truth, nothing that the press made up to get money.

"So what's going on with your lives? How's school? We haven't talked much about you two lately. What's up?" Matt changed the subject to a more pleasant topic. It had been a while since they all had dinner and the four of them talked about what was going on in their lives and how school was going. It had been around four weeks, Matt had counted in his head.

"Well, I auditioned for the school play..." Stephen said uneasily and slowly, "but I think I'm going to quit. It isn't worth it."

"You auditioned for a play!?" Jenna cried incredulously, but the happy shocked kind of way. Sort of like she couldn't believe it and not the angry shocked way.

"What play?" Matt asked interestedly. Charlotte remained quiet and picked at the strands of melted cheese on a limp piece of elbow macaroni.

"Um, _Alice in Wonderland. _I got the Mad Hatter but I think I'm going to be too busy this quarter to be in a school play, y'know?" Stephen answered his parents' question.

Charlotte glanced up slowly, not even daring to ask. Did her brother just say that he wanted to quit the play? But he seemed all happy-happy about it to the point where he went and auditioned anyways even though Charlotte had mentioned that she wanted to join the play and he went and did anyways. But of course, her ears couldn't be right. She blasted the music she listened to so her eardrums must be two loud songs away from no return.

"You're quitting? That's sad. I was looking forward to seeing you as the Mad Hatter," Charlotte replied, basically as a way to say that she was sorry and forgave him instead of saying she was sorry because hey, they were siblings. They never admitted to saying they were sorry but in ways they apologized, always dodging the "s word."

"We would've been front row!" Matt exclaimed cheerfully, still looking proud at Stephen. He couldn't believe that all these years, his sports loving son had joined a school play. He didn't seem interested one bit in acting before so why now?

"Sorry. At least you're not wasting your money on the tickets, right?" Stephen joked, laughing.

"I still would've killed to see you in an orange wig," Charlotte added in. It was true. She would give her life savings to see her brother in an orange wig and acting in _Alice in Wonderland. _It would've been hilarious.

"Charlotte knows what she's talking about." Jenna laughed and her whole family joined in.

"Of course," Charlotte answered, beaming. She looked around the dinner table. For the first time in a while, her entire family was happy and laughing and mostly: connected and united. It was a nice feeling.

**A/N - **

**So we didn't exactly make it to thirty reviews but I'm still happy and I love writing this story. I wrote it at the very beginning of the summer when I was going through some really bad things and basically in a bad place post-graduation. It wasn't missing the school I went to or anything, just that it was the very beginning of summer break, not even a week in and normally you're supposed to be thrilled after the last day of school or graduation but I was stuck in a rut mostly and feeling just very sad and this story took my mind off of things and you guys through your support, reviews, and feedback, let me see a side of things that were different and that writing is a beautiful thing and totally worth it. For that, you guys are amazing. Thank you so much.**


	7. Charlotte Cracks the Social Code

"Are we good? Siblings again?" Stephen was clearing off the dinner table when he heard his sister's voice from next to him. He nearly dropped the cheese covered plate when he got hold of Charlotte's exact words.

"A-are you serious?" He stuttered. Stephen couldn't believe it. Was Charlotte seriously apologizing? Was their hateful fight over? Was Charlotte waving the white flag and calling a truce? This seriously could not be happening. The last time he had talked, or been acknowledged by his sister before today was two days ago when Charlotte shot him a dirty look when the two siblings were passing each other in the hallway on his way to pre-calculus.

Charlotte didn't even bat an eyelash. Her hazel eyes shot him in the face a look that said, "do you think I'm kidding"? "Fine. If you don't want to call a truce." She huffed, pretending to sound annoyed even though she knew it within her that he was probably dying for them to be siblings again and be at peace again. Like Charlotte said, she was pretty much a "detective", basically a "mind reader." For some reason, she always had a clear clue of what people were thinking about and most times when she acted on how she thought people acted, and most times she was right. There were times when she backfired on what she thought was right, but they were very little times.

"Okay, fine. Truce. Siblings again?" Stephen set down the polished white plates down on the kitchen table next to him carefully and stuck his right hand out to his little sister. He did a sigh of relief inside. Things were finally back to normal, like the way he wanted them to be. Stephen was never the type to break into a fight and more of what you would label a "peacemaker." He was always one to take the high road and do his best to avoid a problem and if it was a serious problem, he would do his best to work it out and make sure everything was alright.

Inside, he was a proud Hufflepuff (he had gotten his mum and sister to mentally sort him into one of the four Hogwarts houses when he was seven after he begged Jenna if he could go to Hogwarts like Harry and she sadly told him there was no Hogwarts). Stephen regarded kindness and respect his number one personality traits and two of the most important traits a person should have.

"Fine." Charlotte shook her brother's hand grudgingly. "But I have a question for you, why did you join the school play? Did you? And did you quit because of me?" She near-interrogated him. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him but judging from the way it was, it seemed to be like a round of third-degree.

"I'll answer however many questions you have _after _I clean these dishes and set everything back to where it belongs." Stephen nodded over to the stack of plates he had set aside to make peace temporarily with his little sister.

"Stephen, if I come down here in ten minutes and find that you haven't put everything back to where it belongs, you are going to be grounded. You've had nearly twenty minutes!" Jenna exclaimed at her elder son, walking into the kitchen.

"Okay, Mum." Stephen nodded and got on with his chores. What exactly was he going to tell Charlotte? Did he have to tell her about Grace and that whole mess as well? _Grace, _he thought to himself. She had slipped his mind for the past few weeks as things had been hectic for a while and focusing on a "crush" wasn't really the thing to do when things were hectic. Did it mean that he didn't like her anymore?

He spent the rest of the time remaining silent and finishing his chores while his sister sat with her leg up on a kitchen chair and scrolling through something on her phone that probably was all the importance.

"Finished." He came up to his sister after he finished the dishes and everything. Stephen had no idea what they were going to talk about or what they were going to do. It had been awhile, a long while, since he had done something or spent time with his sister. Things for him just seemed a little too awkward but Charlotte probably didn't see the awkwardness or feel that anything was wrong.

"How's life?" Charlotte asked, in a monotone voice, from behind the screen of her phone, not looking up.

"G-great," Stephen replied. "How about you?"

She put her phone down. "Well, I'm decorating sets and stuff for the school play so I guess it's been good."

The two siblings stayed silent for a while, neither of them knowing what exactly to say. What exactly was there to say? The two of them were teenagers now and had lives of their own. Before they were fighting, they never had a "serious" talk or anything with each other. They were just on good terms. The last time they had spent "time" like this with each other, they were probably ten or eight and still young kids.

"I only joined the school play because I liked Grace," Stephen blurted out quickly, not realizing what was coming out of his mouth. The moment it came out of his mouth, he instantly regretted saying it.

Charlotte slowly looked up at her brother, her hazel eyes wide open, pierced on him. Did she just hear him correctly? Did he _just _say that he joined a school play to get close to a girl? And two, that girl being _Grace Becker_? Future prom queen, all-around popular, American/British, bouncy and golden blonde hair, Loven Academy thespian Grace Becker?

"You did not just say that." She managed to mutter out those words, still absolutely shocked at what she had heard. In her fourteen years of life, her brother had never even showed one slight bit of interest towards another girl.

"I did... maybe," Stephen muttered, couldn't even believing himself. And why was he telling his fourteen year old sister about this? The world really was a strange place sometimes.

"Well how's your crush going?" She asked him, trying to sound interested and not totally still in shock as that was her current state. Even if you dumped a bucket of ice water on her or did everything to try to get Charlotte out of the shocked stage she was in, nothing could possibly work. There really was no way for her to forget everything that she had heard in the past sixty seconds.

He didn't answer back to her and stayed silent which gave Charlotte the answer she needed without asking everything. "You haven't spoken to her yet, have you?" Even though she didn't know if that was the case, Charlotte probably wasn't off or wrong. She expected this type of thing coming from her brother.

"Sometimes I've had..." Stephen answered slowly, not trying to make himself sound like a complete idiot in front of his younger sister. The last thing that he wanted to do was to sound like a loser in front of her. He was sure at this point that Charlotte was a lot "cooler" than him. Was this how stuff between siblings were supposed to be? Wasn't the older sibling supposed to be "cooler" than the younger one? If that was the case, then obviously whoever made up that rule had probably met the Smith siblings.

"Like in person? Not in your dreams?" Charlotte asked, sounding mock-surprised. Personally, she was surprised if Grace and Stephen actually were talking because she didn't expect that of her brother. He was awkward and stoic and for so long she didn't expect him to like someone and for them to be talking. This was all weird and foreign to her.

"Okay, maybe we haven't talked _that _much but then again, who are you to tell me what to do if you haven't been in this position before?" He retorted, cornering in on her.

Now it was Charlotte's turn to grow quiet. "Look, I'm trying to help you," Charlotte answered, her cheeks blushing red in frustration. Something set her off and she didn't know what it was.

She realized something when her brother said that: She had never been "in love" or liked anyone before. Sure, she loved her parents and she loved her extended family, but had she ever loved anyone that was a guy? Up to this point, she had never dated or had a longterm crush on anyone in her class or school. She knew Isa had a short summer fling last summer when she and her family were on vacation in Mustique, and for weeks after that, Isa wouldn't stop rambling on and on about the guy she met at her hotel in Mustique.

Charlotte just smiled patiently and threw in a happy or supportive comment in time after time, even though she was bored to death about what Isa had to say. Somewhere along the way, the communication stopped between Isa and this guy. She stopped mentioning him and Charlotte didn't dare to question why they weren't staying up until two in the morning gossiping on the phone about last summer.

"Geez, sorry," Stephen remarked, he didn't know that he hit a sensitive spot in her or that he said something that probably offended her. But then again, how could he have offended her with what he said?

"Whatever," she muttered. "I need to do homework anyways. Nice talking to you," Charlotte added quickly, her voice faltering. Stephen nodded slowly and Charlotte slowly walked back upstairs to her room, feeling defeated with every step she took.

* * *

She collapsed on her back down on her bed and took a long deep breath to take in everything that was happening. _Life could be worse, _she thought to herself, telling herself not to freak out so much about what was going on. She didn't even _know _why she was acting upset and why she was freaking out internally.

Were these the "teenage hormones" that everyone was talking about and what all the adults dreaded? Great. This was just great. Charlotte sighed to herself as she thought about how "forever alone" she felt. Suddenly, it felt like everyone was suddenly in a relationship or had a crush besides her. Again, she didn't know what it was that set her off to make her think like this but she didn't like it. Was she jealous even at the thought of her brother potentially dating someone popular?

Then again, she was only fourteen. Stephen was sixteen so there was a two year age gap between each other. But besides that, there were plenty of fourteen year olds who were more advanced than having a crush. Take Isa for example. Charlotte was a few months older than her but Isa serial-crushed on guys the first week of school and Charlotte just followed her around to be a good friend and to be there for her.

There were those upperclassmen who dated other people and took each other to dances and everything, but they were upperclassmen so that didn't count at all. What was it about her that made her repel guys? Why weren't her weekends filled with dates and cutesy romantic stuff?

Somehow, she was going to change that. She really was. She didn't know how that she was going to change how she was feeling at this moment.

* * *

Charlotte's hazel eyes brimmed over her biology notes as she sat in English class, studying for the quiz that she had next period. Quietly from the back of the classroom where she sat, she observed what was going on around her. This was the first time she had really "observed" the people around her, the first time she was taking in what was going on.

There were Julie Halner and Cameron Derold who were sitting in the very front of the class and obviously not caring about who was watching their display of affection and it was evident that they were dating. Ew.

Sadie Neilsen was sitting next to her and would always smile at Charlotte whenever she cast a look over at Sadie. Sadie mostly kept to her books and to herself and preferred that rather that socializing with her classmates.

Phoebe Keiller and Natalie Wainer were giggling with each other and kept turning around and giving snide looks at everyone in the room and every time the person they were giggling at made eye contact with either the two of them, they would erupt in more hushed giggles, so hushed and snide, they could ruin your day and make you feel bad about yourself. Charlotte was already the victim three years ago when everyone discovered what the social hierarchy was and its effects.

But was this really how school was? Was school really all about mean girls and lovey-dovey couples? Less than twenty-four hours ago, none of these thoughts were coming into Charlotte's mind and now they were. And now she was on a desire to crack the code of how to fit in, even if she didn't know that she already fit in with everyone else.

* * *

**A/N - **

**Sorry for the long wait, I've been busy a lot since school's started and everything, but abandoning this story is not an option. Expect more chapters coming soon. Your continued support means everything to me! **

**- Irine**


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